Android now available as open-source software

The Android Open Source Project is now available, and with it comes the Android mobile platform that’s now basically free for all to download, use and abuse.

Android is the backbone of the recently released T-Mobile G1, and it will be the backbone of many more phones to come because like what Dave Bort said in today’s announcement of Android’s availability as open source, “…one device is just the beginning.”

Android is being touted as “a complete, end-to-end software platform that can be adapted to work on any number of hardware configurations.” Indeed, everything you would need in a mobile platform should be there. And you can develop applications to further enhance it, and make it do whatever else you might need.

And so it begins: the race to becoming the number one mobile platform. The race for Apple, Nokia, and Google, that is. For consumers like you and me, it’s all well and good. In this day and age, competition is friendly, and we all benefit in one way or another.